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Congratulations to the planning commission for recognizing when a staff report is inadequate and should be ignored. Your vote to reject the Center Street project as too large and too impactful on the neighbors was the right thing to do. Thank you. I know how hard that was for you. The PC has been running short - three members (still a quorum) instead of five at this meeting. (One member was unable to attend). The vacancy which has existed since fall has still not been filled. Two good people from town offered to fill the role on the...
Humans are so resilient. After early shocks to us, individually or collectively, humans find a new equilibrium, developing a new normal. If the disruption is not too great, say a coronavirus pandemic, kids, teachers, businesses, fire fighters and even healthcare workers develop alternatives that in time stop being new and become routine. It is two years ago last week that the world – the world – ground to a halt, everyone – even New Zealand – floored by the coronavirus pandemic. Locked down was the term, the policy and...
We got a gift Sunday morning, at the start of daylight savings time – bright sun and a springlike breeze. Ah, that sun. It is clearly moving north, heading for next week’s equinox. Its journey will take it both higher and farther into the northern sky for the next three months. Shadows really stand out; they are brighter, bolder, more distinct, creating twins of trees and fences. The breeze is not warm yet, but was not cold. Sunday morning it was a tease, whispering winter is over, which it almost is. At 9:30 a.m., which is really 8:30 a...
Introduction: As John Leaver wrote last week of his family members (still) in Kyiv, we all live in an internationally connected world. We here feel Ukrainians’ pain as TV and the internet bring their lives home to us. “Why?” being my favorite word from before two on, it came out of me the moment the all-clear siren sounded. May 1940, England’s southeast coast, inside our garden’s air raid shelter, mummy, baby Peter and me. “Why do they drop bombs on us?” Not till we were in the kitchen with Peter safe again in his cradle and mummy making...
Kudos to La Conner resident Dan O’Donnell for his persistent and astute analysis of local and county financial matters, especially regarding taxation (letter, March 9 Weekly News). The Swinomish taxation of Shelter Bay “improvements” – only the homes, not the land – is an anomaly. For those who do not know the history or have forgotten, it is the consequence of a lawsuit brought in Thurston County by the Chehalis Tribe over property taxation of Great Wolf Lodge, in which they had a majority interest. Local courts ruled in favor...
We, the citizens of La Conner, elect a mayor and a town council. The mayor appoints a town administrator and a planning director. Regarding the oversized and imposing 20 unit development proposal in the 300 block of Center Street, Town Planner Michael Davolio has made a few statements that are troubling, at best. (Weekly News, March 9): 1. Davolio informed the duly elected town council, that they will have no role in the approval process of said proposal. 2. Davolio stated that “the staff recommendations will rest solely on our determination a...
Everyone agrees that all of us are tired of the coronavirus pandemic, now in its third year. Fortunately, the omicron variant has waned, case numbers are down and hospitalizations are following that pattern of decline. Pattern. Waning. Alas, the coronavirus, like the moon, shrinks before, in predictable fashion, it grows into its full phase again. Until the moon is blasted out of the night sky, it will cycle through its changes monthly, like clockwork. In Washington and Skagit County the total reductions and dramatic fall in the case rate are...
Oh, how the pandemic has kicked me in the head, let me count the ways. I was just about to start a tour guide business, when COVID-19 kept the tourists from the tulips and daffodil fields, which was probably the safest place to breathe. Nope, couldn’t even peacefully breathe out on a deserted bayside dike, got quite harshly booted by a minion from the Department of Fish and Wildlife, “didn’t” you read the sign!? Yeah, nobody within a half a mile, I guess it’s best that my at-risk ass, go get closer to the virus, that I thought we were supp...
The Firefighters and Commissioners of District 13 would like to thank The Marathon Petroleum Foundation for their generous donation of $22,000 towards the purchase of our new structure firefighting personal protective equipment. The old gear was well out of date, some as much as 20 years old. In addition, much of the gear was worn out from years of structure fires. This new turnout gear allows us to engage fires with the knowledge that our gear is up to date and structurally sound.. Thanks to the Marathon refinery in Anacortes and the Marathon...
The Swinomish Tax Authority used the same levy rate for 2022 as for 2021: $11.98 per thousand. But, the assessed value of homes in Shelter Bay and Pull & Be Damned increased from $178,838,070 to $196,284,197, an increase of $17,446,127. The Swinomish government hopes to collect $2,350,888 in taxes from Shelter Bay, Pull & Be Damned, Thousand Trails and Dunlap Towing. That’s $208,214 higher than last year. Three taxing districts will receive contributions from the Swinomish. These are: Fire District 13 at $300,000 ($100,000 more than last year),...
A handful of articles on the local and statewide COVID-19 situation in the Feb. 16 issue of the Weekly News provide confusing messaging on the seriousness of the public’s role in the pandemic. Overall, Skagit County hospitalizations and positive cases are lessening. But per page two and page three articles, hospitalization cases are “still quite high,” local Fire District 13 is forced by the virus crisis to run smaller crews and return to zoom meetings, and the statewide move to end the indoor mask mandate is “in transition” while the manda...
I, too, (Bruce Elliot, letter: “Open space is lost forever,” Dec. 15, 2021) am sickened every time I pass by what used to be our lovely little open space ball field. Whenever my husband and I would drive by and a game was on, he would say “Let’s stop and watch,” and sometimes we would. He had Alzheimer’s and this was a great delight for his deteriorating mind. After he died, I had such bittersweet memories when I drove by the ball field. No more. Am I, as Bruce had said, beating a dead horse on this issue? Yes, but no. It looks to me as thoug...
Paul Farmer, Harvard physician and anthropologist, co-founder of Partners in Health, died on February 21 at the age 62 in Rwanda after a lifetime of caring for the poor in Haiti, Peru, Rwanda, Siberia and the Navajo Nation. He was quoted (AP) as saying,”I am not cynical, cynicism is a dead end.” I try to hold that admirable thought as we witness the unvaccinated clogging, almost breaking, hospital staffs across the United States claiming vaccination mandates designed to protect the population as a whole are “forced” vaccinations that infring...
War. No one wants it, but the option – or possibility, or hope – is readily and easily bandied about. Now Russia has invaded Ukraine, unleashing the greatest military violence in Europe since Hitler’s attack on Poland in 1939. What does it mean? In the long run disaster for Vladimir Putin and disaster for the people of Russia. The Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan in 1979 only to retreat in defeat nine years later. The U.S. loses war after war, from Vietnam to our own Afghanistan debacle, 20 years of lives and treasure lost there, o...
A story and a satire I was in the Tav last Friday afternoon having a bourbon and a beer before I went out to Anacortes to get my oil changed, there not being any place in town for automotive work. I was telling my friend McCoy that while I was out I was going to get a couple of bunches of daffodils for the Mrs. She really likes those yellow blooms on the kitchen table this time of year. She says they remind her of the sun when she gets up early in the dark after that damned daylight savings time kicks in. So McCoy says to me “Hat,” cause he kno...
Wow, what a time to be alive, so much to see and experience, a worldwide pandemic, international tensions, inflationary pressures again causing our hands to be out to the legislature, thank you, please. Please dear benevolent overlord, can’t you appreciate our need and pleas? Another $625,000, I’m sure we won’t have to ask for anymore, it’ll help us pay for the doors and windows of our new library. I’m sure that it will create more tourist income, it’ll make us cooler than we already are. Maybe someone will come in and read about our missing sa...
I am sure a marketing “icon” in Gilkey Square was proposed for the best of reasons, but it strikes me as wrong-headed in a number of ways: Goal. It’s been suggested to me that the icon will provide a great place for visitor photo ops. If that’s the goal, the icon will probably achieve it, at considerable expense. But if the goal is to attract more visitors and more return visitors, I don’t see how it does that. I don’t see people saying, “Hey, let’s run up to La Conner and get some pics with that icon thing!” It is just not an attraction in...
The quaint town of La Conner has drawn people from the world over. The Skagit Valley, on the whole, is a very special place. The location, climate and the beautiful vistas that come with the changing seasons bring people here every year. What vision are we seeking for the special area that we live in? Do we want to be memorable for what is here? What is the memory we want our visitors to take away from here? When I first heard of the plans for the apartment building going in on Center Street behind The Slider Cafe, I found myself disheartened....
What a good idea to have a marketing icon for La Conner! And kudos to First on First committee for putting in the thought, time and energy. But we must be careful that the design is reviewed well so we don’t end up like Mount Vernon with an icon of a uterus and fallopian tubes. Have you seen that one across from the food co-op? If the large "L" mock up was supposed to engender our "brand" of Love La Conner, I think it fails. As a cold, sterile, stainless steel, hard-angled, out-of-human-proportion structure it is unattractive. Furthermore i...
Thank you to the voice of reason presented by the arts and parks commissions regarding the placement of a giant “Love La Conner” sign in Gilkey Square! I am baffled that anyone would want to change the character of our charming square by installing an oversized ad in the space. My initial objection arose when I saw the photo in the paper. I reached out to town council with my concerns and was contacted by a member of council who told me the story in the paper was misleading and inaccurate. However, it was confirmed that the proposed ad/...
Okay, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but sometimes as a journalist, you gotta tell it like it is, especially when people’s lives are at stake. The coronavirus ain’t going away. The consensus of all the studies that I have been following is that, while the omicron variant is not as deadly as the delta variant, it is extremely pervasive. My natural journalistic impulse to share the sad truth with my readers that has inspired me to do a lot of research and the results just confirm what I sus...
Senate legislative proposal SB5843 does not have sufficient support to pass the Washington Senate and be sent to our representatives for consideration. SB5843 would have made it a crime for elected officials and candidates to willfully lie about election process or results. It appears dead in the water … for now. Isn’t it a reasonable expectation of Washington voters that our senators and representatives are telling us the truth on all matters regardless of whether they are Republicans or Democrats? Why are Republicans blocking this legi...
I am no fan of the Clintons. Hillary Clinton’s nomination by the Democratic Party in 2016 was, I believe, an act of cosmic stupidity. She was and is one of the most unpopular politicians in the nation. Let us not forget that Clinton was secretary of state when our ambassador to Libya was kidnapped and brutally murdered because he lacked adequate protection in a war zone. There were absolutely no consequences for this grotesque dereliction of duty. Her husband is, in my opinion, worse. A frequent flyer on Jeffrey Epstein’s Lolita Express, he...
This is in regards to the Feb.9 Weekly News article, “Should the Shelter Bay board resign over the Rainbow Park clearcut?” While we appreciate and applaud your efforts to enlighten our community by your article, we also need to correct your statement about the efforts to remove the board. We want to make it clear that the attendees who met Feb. 9 are not looking to remove the entire board. Our efforts are focused on those directors who have violated their oath of office by voting to indemnify Steve Swigert and volunteer Ric Henderson, imp...
Greater La Conner, within and beyond the town's boundaries, is blessed with a plethora of volunteers. La Conner’s arts and park commission members are the institutionalists the government and surrounding community are fortunate to have. Their missions are prescribed by the town’s municipal code. Members take their roles seriously, committing to them term after term and, like church choirs, bond with each other in purpose and friendship. They toil in general obscurity, their efforts and results occasionally noticed by the town council or loc...
